INTRODUCTION
When talking about a group of people, either in a social group or in established organizations, we will always find leaders, who are the heads of the group, who leads them, the example and behaviors to follow, that is, who sets the tone for the activities to be followed. perform.
A good leader will always find himself in favor of the growth and achievement of the objectives of the group he leads, through the use of innate abilities and also of characteristics and knowledge developed over the years.
It is an absolute truth that no one owns the future of other people, so each individual will forge their own destiny through making decisions that drive them to fulfill their goals.
When a person becomes a group leader, it is necessary for them to exercise adequate moral leadership, that is, to integrate as much as possible the organizational objectives to those of each of their collaborators, so that while the organizations become successful, The individuals who collaborate in it are success stories too, and they achieve the self-realization that Abraham Maslow emphasized so much.
As Henry Ford said: "There is only something more expensive than training people and let them leave, do not train them and stay"
LEADERSHIP
Leader: "It means doing things the right way." Peter Ducker (1954)
Leadership: "It is the interpersonal influence exerted in a situation, directed through the process of human communication to the achievement of one or several specific objectives" Chiavenato (2004).
The concepts of leadership and direction are very similar and are applied in terms of work groups, the definitions used to refer to a leader, such as: Director or boss are variants of the word "hood" which in Latin means "Head"
In other words, a leader will guide a certain group of people under different contexts, however the basic functions that must be performed are:
- Maintain the unity of the group Analyze and know the characteristics, skills and areas of opportunity of each member of the team, to fully develop the capacities of all. Define and achieve the proposed goals.
The leader of a certain group exerts a specific influence, which will make the followers act in a defined way.
There are different types of leadership, these are defined by the form or characteristic that each individual has to achieve the objectives, within which can be found:
- Authoritarian Leadership. Tax, with elaboration of demands Paternalistic leadership. It expresses the true interest of the group and the members creating an overprotection, which derives from a lack of interest in the general goals and the demand for the “right” to be cared for. Manipulative Leadership. It only expresses interest in the general welfare until it has achieved its own goals, after which it denotes disinterest. Know-it-all leadership. It refers in an exaggerated way to the knowledge obtained generating a sense of inferiority to the rest of the members of the group
The leader of a group will have influence over his collaborators, he will be able to intervene and contribute with his collaborators, but at all times he will have to make use of certain acquired power, this will depend on the type of authority designation, if it is established in a way formal or informal.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFLUENCE, POWER AND AUTHORITY
Idalberto Chiavenato affirms that "Influence, power and authority are concepts that arise from relationships between people and in order for their differences to be understood, they have to be defined" And he details them as follows:
Influence. "It is a transaction between people, by reason of which one person acts with the intention of modifying or provoking the behavior of another."
Power. "It is the ability to affect and control the decisions - the actions of other people, even when they resist"
Authority. "It is the legitimate power, the power that a person has by virtue of the role or position they have within the structure of an organization" Chiavenato, I. (2004).
Power of attorney can be presented in the following ways:
- Legitimate power. It is derived from the organizational culture, provided by superiors and accepted directly by subordinates. Expert power. Authority that confers knowledge and is extremely important. Charismatic power. It is the ability of the individual to communicate with others, inspiring confidence. Rewarding power. It is the attitude of granting certain types of rewards to the collaborators, not forgetting the recognition because it can cause indifference on the part of the collaborator. Coercive power. It punishes collaborators who do not comply with the tasks or obligations assigned.
MORAL AND ETHICS
On many occasions, ethics and morality are used as synonyms, and although they have the same direction, their origins are different, according to the philosophical language of this time.
Morality is a dimension where the world develops, composed of values, rules, and customs that will regulate the behavior of individuals in society. Set of universal principles generated by the conscience of the moral law and the individual will.
Ethics Science that evaluates moral behavior developing theories to justify the veracity of behaviors or moral language, some authors define it as: "Philosophy of morality"
However, to identify if the shares fall within these categories, it is appropriate to make the following approaches:
- Will the actions to be taken bring any personal benefit? Will they bring any benefit to the community? Is it appropriate or fair to other people, communities or cultures?
MORAL LEADERSHIP
Talking about moral leadership is definitely leading by example, because group members will have a clear tendency to follow in the leader's footsteps.
Today most of the population describes their leaders as dishonest people. In a survey carried out by the Pew Research Center, it reveals that in China 90% of respondents state that corruption is a relevant problem, in Brazil 78% and in India 83% say that dishonest leadership is a serious problem.
It is necessary to promote the creation of leaders who have broad moral capacity and who integrate the concepts of ethics into their duties, fostering empathy with the members of their groups and organizations at all times.
It is a fact that the way of thinking of each individual will determine the behavior of this, on certain occasions it will not be in a conscious way.
The main elements that make up moral leadership are:
- The perception of the human being. It is the appreciation that is had regarding each collaborator, including self-image and expectations, some characteristics of the leader that will determine this concept are:
- Racist: It justifies privileges derived from the origin of the collaborators, it will depend on where the leader believes he or she belongs. Determinist: It exempts the individual from guilt, hopes to achieve social change without intervening in the staff Rational Animal: Decisions are based on the physical pleasure, with aggressive behavior Sinner. Intolerance, placing faith above reason.
- Service-oriented leadership. It is to use the characteristics of the leader in favor of the community, without creating dependency, it does not help to solve immediate needs, but rather it empowers employees to solve their future needs. The purpose of leadership: Personal and social transformation. Personal transformation consists of developing individual capacities to achieve “the best possible self” without fostering self-centeredness. Social transformation is about building a better society, which requires committed collaborators The fundamental moral responsibility to investigate and apply the truth. It is based on 2 simple truths:
- Insatiable search for the truth, through research Application of said truths
- The significance. It is to separate the present reality and seek the connection with the values and principles that in our understanding are eternal, to have a continuous commitment The development of capacities. The moral leader of today will be those people who carry out some type of transformation in favor of the social sector with skills (ability to listen, organize, etc.), qualities (honesty, courtesy, truthfulness), attitudes (habitual response patterns) and concepts.
CHARACTERISTICS NEEDED TO BE A GOOD MORAL LEADER
For an individual to develop as a good moral leader, he must develop different types of capacities that lead him to interact appropriately with his environment, the famous psychologist Stephen Covey proposes what he calls "Empathic listening" as the most important of them. Some of them are listed below, divided into 3 categories.
- Skills to improve interpersonal relationships.
- Empathic listening. The author Stephen Covey says that the key to empathic communication is: "First understand and then be understood" (Covey, S. 1997), the human being tends to wait for them to understand and then understand others, at the time of listening are only preparing their argument to talk about themselves.
Covey affirms that the level of listening of a person is divided into four sections: We ignore it, we pretend to listen to it, we only attend certain parts of the conversation and we listen carefully to everything that is being transmitted to us. Empathic listening is about really understanding the person from their real point of view in order to have a proper view of what they perceive.
“The essence of empathic listening is not to agree; it consists of fully and deeply understanding the other person, both emotionally and intellectually ”(Covey, 1997). When a person listens in what is called “autobiographical terms”, they react by evaluating the situation, elaborating questions about it, issuing advice, but all based on the experiences acquired, not from an objective point of view
- Infuse with love and example. Pay attention to the interlocutor, contribute your own knowledge, do not criticize others, be kind and trust others Encourage the unity of a heterogeneous group. When a group is formed, there will be different categories that characterize them, in today's world for an organization to adequately stand out, it must expose the qualities of all the members, and take advantage of the diversity itself, the challenge is to achieve the consolidation of the group, so it is necessary to communicate to collaborators the importance of each one of them, the need for the sum of individual forces, the sense of equity and justice, identify common and specific goals achieving a shared objective, exchange information and opinions, as well as getting adequate feedback.Encourage other individuals to achieve their goals. Create special conditions so that collaborators can reach their maximum capacity, through the use of appropriate stimuli, demonstrating a sense of acceptance and trust
- Personal transformation capabilities
- Self discipline. It is directing attitudes, thoughts and feelings towards the appropriate direction, that is, towards the established goal, it will basically be divided into 3 practices, Controlling appetites, pride, the desire to impress others and above all the ambition for power towards others. others, with complete dedication and perseverance. Self-evaluation. It is not easy to carry out self-evaluation without the interference of the ego because by nature it tends to excuse the mistakes made, to carry out this process properly it is necessary to do it frequently with a hint of humility, to identify whether or not we are in the right path for proper development. Finding solutions. It is to solve a problem but not only in the short term, if not to identify the magnitude of the decisions and actions that are taken to solve it,verify to what degree it will affect the organization, and if it continues to repeat itself for a certain period, identifying the patterns that produce it.
A systemic thinking can be developed with the following points: Do not make hasty decisions, always analyze all the possible causes and effects that generate decision making, Carry out empathy or look for different perspectives of the problem, assimilate the different approaches and points of view to solve a problem.
- Conduct yourself with rectitude in everything Adhere to ethical principles at all times, accept responsibility for your actions and try to solve problems Have creative initiative. When trying to implement this type of change, they will generally run into resistance from those involved, so that it has an adequate functioning, the goal of the actions must be established, then strategies that lead to the objective should be designed, then define the necessary elements to implement the strategies established, it is important to mention that for each proposal or initiative an approximate duration and the appropriate moment of implementation will have to be established.
- Social transformation capabilities
- Establish a future vision and share it with others. Clearly defining the group's objectives will considerably accelerate their achievement, that is, when the line is drawn to the goal, and the actions carried out bring the group closer to that goal, generate motivation among people, who will work with greater dynamism, on the contrary if they are not established they may feel that they are wandering acquiring a feeling of stress and possibly forgetting the objective of the mission. Perform social service in the different institutions. Interacting with society and encouraging its growth is a fundamental part of the actions to be carried out, change must be promoted in a system of continuous learning and training, stimulating communication in all senses.Convert the relationships that may exist of domination into others of mutual help. Domination models are identified with any of these situations: Sense of superiority by some element, imposition of decisions over others, differences between groups and lack of resources.
Reciprocity is identified with the following characteristics: Existing differences will be resolved through communication, reciprocity is general in scope and applied by all members of the group, Values such as honesty, respect and courtesy are fully applicable in development of the activities
CONCLUSIONS
In order for an individual to exercise adequate moral leadership, he must maintain himself in a continuous learning process summarized in action - reflection - action where he will identify the areas of opportunity that he has and how he can project himself and his collaborators towards a better future, he must generate the empathy process and develop your capacity for service.
When making any decision or reacting in a certain way, you must take into account the impact of your actions, directly (that is, both positively or negatively affect your collaborators or the members of a communication) and indirectly (establishing patterns of behavior that will be adopted in one way or another by their close collaborators)
Moral leadership is an extremely broad and controversial issue, which involves issues of diversity and multiculturalism, however it is a fact that all the leaders of this and other nations at all levels have a responsibility to society, it is a role that should be assumed with broad responsibility in order to have a better world.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
- Covey, Stephen R. (1997). The seven habits of highly effective people (First). Paidos.Hernández Juanita (1994) Moral Leadership: An Introduction for Bahaís.Robbins, Stephen (2004). Organizational behavior. Prentice Hall: Why the World Faces a Leadership Crisis in 2015 (s / f). Recovered on April 2, 2017, from: https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2014/11/por-que-en-el-ano-2015-el-mundo-se-enfrenta-a- a-leadership-crisis / Alejandra Cerecedo. (2017, February 7). It is time for moral leadership. Retrieved from: https://alejandraconst.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/es-tiempo-para-el-liderazgo-moral/Conceptos de ethics y moral (s / F) Retrieved on March 30, 2017 from: https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx/www/bjv/libros/5/2228/4.pdfDistribution of leadership as an institutional strategy (s / F) Retrieved on April 2, 2017 from:
